Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Erie Indemnity Company (ERIE)

Is Erie Indemnity Company (NASDAQ:ERIE) a bargain? The smart money is taking an optimistic view. The number of long hedge fund bets went up by 4 lately.

To the average investor, there are tons of metrics shareholders can use to watch stocks. A pair of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can outpace the broader indices by a solid margin (see just how much).

Just as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the world of equities. Obviously, there are many motivations for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if investors understand where to look (learn more here).

Now, we’re going to take a glance at the latest action surrounding Erie Indemnity Company (NASDAQ:ERIE).

How have hedgies been trading Erie Indemnity Company (NASDAQ:ERIE)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 80% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.

According to our comprehensive database, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the most valuable position in Erie Indemnity Company (NASDAQ:ERIE). Royce & Associates has a $70.5 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is D E Shaw, managed by D. E. Shaw, which held a $9.3 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining peers that are bullish include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

As industrywide interest jumped, key money managers were breaking ground themselves. Highbridge Capital Management, managed by Glenn Russell Dubin, created the largest position in Erie Indemnity Company (NASDAQ:ERIE). Highbridge Capital Management had 0.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s LMR Partners also initiated a $0.6 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new ERIE investors: Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.

How are insiders trading Erie Indemnity Company (NASDAQ:ERIE)?

Bullish insider trading is most useful when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time period, Erie Indemnity Company (NASDAQ:ERIE) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Erie Indemnity Company (NASDAQ:ERIE). These stocks are Aon PLC (NYSE:AON), National Financial Partners Corp. (NYSE:NFP), Willis Group Holdings PLC (NYSE:WSH), Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG), and Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO). This group of stocks are in the insurance brokers industry and their market caps resemble ERIE’s market cap.